Prof. James Gibson, University of Richmond School of Law August 20, 2013 What role does Big Media play in the courtroom? Major media companies are often portrayed as aggressive drivers of expansive copyright, dominating every aspect of the legal landscape.  When it comes to litigation, however, the truth is more nuanced.  My colleague Chris Cotropia [...]

Prof. James Gibson, University of Richmond School of Law April 29, 2013 In my previous entry in this series, I discussed the Supreme Court’s long-awaited decision in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, involving the unauthorized resale in the United States of textbooks purchased overseas.  Indeed, the Kirtsaeng case and the issue it presented have [...]

Prof. James Gibson, University of Richmond School of Law March 26, 2013 In two past entries in this series, here and here, I discussed whether copyrighted goods manufactured abroad may be resold in the United States without having to get a new license from the copyright owner.  When the goods are pirated – manufactured illegally [...]

Prof. James Gibson, University of Richmond School of Law January 8, 2013 In my last entry in this series, I examined three important patent law cases from 2012 – one at the Supreme Court level, one at the appellate level, and one at the trial court level.  I’ll now do the same thing with regard [...]

Prof. James Gibson, University of Richmond School of Law January 3, 2013 New Year’s Day prompts us to reflect on what the last 12 months have brought, so I’ve taken the opportunity to think back on 2012’s intellectual property developments.  It’s been a busy year, with patent reform, new technologies, multilateral treaties, and more.  To [...]

Prof. James Gibson, University of Richmond School of Law October 22, 2012 One of our favorite topics in this Intellectual Property Issues series – perhaps the favorite – is Google Books, the massive project through which Google hopes to bring its search capability to the text of all books in the English language.  To make [...]

Prof. James Gibson, University of Richmond School of Law September 5, 2012 The jury verdict in the Apple v. Samsung case is in, and it is a whopper: $1.05 billion in damages, to be paid by Samsung to Apple for violating various intellectual property rights in the iPhone and iPad.  In all likelihood, the court [...]

Prof. James Gibson, University of Richmond School of Law May 29, 2012 The extent of federal power over our lives has been much in the news recently, what with the Supreme Court holding days of hearings on whether the Affordable Care Act is an unconstitutional exercise of Congress’s power under the Commerce Clause.  Like the [...]

Prof. James Gibson, University of Richmond School of Law April 24, 2012 In an earlier entry in this series, I discussed an important issue in copyright law – whether the first sale doctrine applies to goods manufactured abroad.  The Supreme Court was set to decide the issue in Costco v. Omega, but the Court split [...]

Prof. James Gibson, University of Richmond School of Law January 10, 2012 In the previous entry in this series, I discussed the narrow foundations of trademark law and its more recent expansion – in particular, how new approaches to trademark liability have departed from the law’s traditional focus on disputes about the source of competing [...]